High school notes

There's just one member of the Panhandle's 2,000-yard passing club this season, Canadian's Braden Hudson with 2,106 yards. He could have some more company by the end of this week.

Two other quarterbacks have a chance to reach the 2,000-yard milestone tonight. Tulia's Zack Johnson has thrown for 1,855 yards, and as prolific as he's been throwing the ball, he seems like a cinch to hit the mark tonight at Abernathy. The next most likely passer to hit 2,000 this week is Caprock's Gerardo Ruiz, who has thrown for 1,810 yards this year.

When Shamrock beat Memphis, 49-32, last week, it guaranteed Shamrock wouldn't endure a second straight winless season. That means the number of winless 11-man teams in the area is down to two - Nazareth and Memphis, both 0-8.

Coincidentally, Memphis plays at Claude, one of last season's two winless Panhandle teams, in a District 2-1A Division II game tonight. Nazareth faces a far tougher task in a District 3-1A Division II game at 8-0 Springlake-Earth.

Of all the teams that completed their seasons last year (Tulia lost its first seven games before forfeiting the remainder of its season), only Claude and Shamrock went winless. No Six-Man schools were winless, but this year, Lazbuddie and Silverton are still looking for their first wins.

- Lee Passmore

Canadian aims for 10-0

Canadian has reached the state championship game three years in a row, winning twice and losing a heartbreaker last season. The Wildcats, however, haven't went 10-0 during the regular season since 2005. They have an opportunity to do that today when they visit Boys Ranch to close out their District 1-1A Division I schedule.

In 2005 the Wildcats outscored their regular season opponents by a 419-109 margin. Their closest games were a 17-10 win over over Sanford-Fritch and a 39-25 win over Perryton. The other victories were by margins of 33, 48, 24, 32, 38, 44, 27 and 43 points.

In the playoffs the Wildcats defeated Electra by a 51-18 margin before losing the next week to Idalou by a 26-14 count.

In this season's 9-0 start they have outscored the opponents by a 405-139 margin. The closest game was last week's 21-7 win over Stratford. The other victories have been by margins of 44, 30, 28, 37, 28, 30, 26 and 29 points.

It's a good guess this season they will again make a lengthy playoff run.

- Les Giles

S-F looks to end drought

If Sanford-Fritch can defeat Spearman on the road today the Eagles will win a district title outright for the first time since 2000.

They have already clinched a playoff berth out of District 1-2A Division II but will finish 6-0 and alone atop the standings with a win.

In 2000, the Eagles went 5-0 to capture the District 1-3A title in a league that also included River Road, Childress, Dalhart, Perryton and Tulia.

Their only regular-season loss was against Spearman by a 28-27 margin in week two. The Eagles went on to win their next eight games including a 20-6 bidistrict victory over Shallowater. Their season ended the following week in a 23-14 area round loss to Midland Greenwood.

- Les Giles

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